ribbons of flavor

south indian food is eaten as a melange of various mini dishes on one plate: a bit of rice, a curry or two, some stew/soup-like concoction to incorporate into the rice, and condiments and accompaniments in the form of chutneys, wafers (pappadum), and sauces. this is the way i ate dinner for most of my life before college. only after dining halls and eating out did the concept of "main dish" become more central in my culinary vocabulary. if pasta was the main dish, salad and a roll came along for the ride. even at restaurants, breads and breadsticks precede the appetizer, which prepares the palette for the main course after which you hopefully have time for dessert. the courses remain separate. and yes, you are supposed to soak up the balsamic glaze with your ice creamed spoon, but n'er shall the salad dressing mingle with the marinara sauce. in my experience, it was in the mixing where the genius of the flavor lay. fragrant basmati rice soaked in rasam - a tomato-based translucent soup/sauce - gained maximum flavor-bursting capability when combined with okra curry and a dollop of homemade yogurt. that is a combination beaten only by the added hint of broken piece of pappadum.

so tonight, i had the idea of bringing this culinary approach to tastes and textures i usually reserve for western-style preparation: the appetizer, main dish sequence. what did i have lying around the house?:
chipotle in adobo sauce (in a pop-top can) - i'm always looking for reasons to use this!
basil, leftover from provencalification earlier this week
1 medium red pepper
1 box near east whole grain blends (minus the flavor packet, b/c they usually have a smidge too much salt for my taste)
tomato paste
leftover fire roasted crushed tomatoes
eggs
1/2 a red onion
garlic

went to the grocery store and picked up:
2 large portobello caps - only used one
1 medium yellow squash


here's how the evening's melange-a-meal went.
i prepared the rice blend as instructed on the box with the following changes: i first sauteed some diced yellow onions - about 1/2 a small one (yup, had that lying around, too) - in olive oil, added the rice blend, and once it was well coated added two splashes of apple cider vinegar. then, as directed, added 1.75 cups of water, let it all come to a boil, then simmered for about 18 minutes.
meanwhile...
i started on my "curry" by cutting the yellow squash. i decided to use the skinny end and got the notion to slice everything thinly. i took a peeler and, after peeling off the skin of the squash, i started to peel the squash into ribbons. i learned this trick somewhere - some show, some cookbook. i wish i could give credit where it's due, but for now my memory is stumped. after the 1/2 squash was ribboned, i wrapped the pile up in a paper towel and set it aside. my aim was to get as much moisture out of the squash as possible. i wasn't sure why at the time, but i was glad i thought of it when it came time to eat!
ok, i'm getting ahead of myself...
i heated my trusty sautee pan and coated the bottom with some olive oil. first, in went a verrrry thinly sliced clove of garlic. (yes, goodfellas-prison-scene-pauli-cooking-style) next, 1/4 of a red onion, similarly thinly sliced. as both of these were getting translucent, i started in on 1/3 of a red pepper. once again **thinly** sliced - which was certainly a challenge with the bumpy pepper i had. after i threw that onto the pan, i wiped and sliced the portobello cap. (note, NO flavoring has been added to the curry yet.) after adding the sliced mushrooms, i gave the pan a good shake with an impressive flick of the wrist. it's times like that when i wish i lived in my own version of the truman show and moments could be preserved forever. (clearly, that thought is quickly pushed out of my head - lest any 4th dimensions be lingering - and i am once again thankful for the shreds of privacy we can still claim...)
back to the curry - i turn the heat verrrry low, add a sprinkling of salt (barely 1/2 teaspoon), and let te mixture hang out. first, i push all of the veggies onto one half of the pan so that whatever moisture is left doesn't escape entirely.

next, i turn to the sauce. i decide that the flavor for my meal will come from a sauce that i make using the following ingredients and a microwave:
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce - minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup fire roasted tomates
splash balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sambar powder - a mix of indian spices used to make the thick soup called sambar. usually heavy on turmeric, chili powder, cumin, and some other spices i can't currently recall.
pinch salt
dash cinnamon
and, my favorite mystery spice of all: a hint - less than a teaspoon, more than a pinch - of asafoetida. (look it up - very pungent, very perfect)
mix everything well and microwave for 45 seconds; stir, taste; microwave again.

it was almost time to plate my meal, so i started by giving the curry one section of plate real estate while it awaited its neighbors. the rice was finished, so i took it off the stove and gave it a fluff and scooped a bit onto another area of my plate. but something was missing... protein! a problem easily solved by a simple crepe of nothing but egg whites. i just coated the sautee pan again, cracked two egg whites - careful not to let any yolk escape - directly onto the pan to form a thin layer of protein. while it cooked, i flavored it with a pinch of salt and a few turns of the peppermill, folded it over and add it to my food neighborhood. and then, over top all three, i added a couple of sizable spoonfuls of my curry sauce. and there i had it - a meal that was greater than the sum of its parts!

dessert was excellent and healthy, as well:
1/2 banana
warmed blackberries
1 teaspoon toasted almonds
1 scoop rice dream (vanilla)

i cut the banana half in half down the middle, lengthwise.
sprayed on a quick spray of olive oil
sprinkled on 1 packet of splenda over both halves and broiled them in my toaster oven (if i had a grill, i prefer to grill them in their skins - the result tastes like custard!)
in a bowl, tossed in a handful of washed blackberries and nuked for 20 seconds. this causes the blackberries to burst open with flavor and juices.
toasted almonds in a saucepan for about minute - just put almonds in saucepan over heat and wait for toasting to happen.
the assembly went like this:
to the warmed blackberries add scoop of rice dream
arrange banana halves around rice dream
sprinkle with almonds (careful to toss out the burned ones!)
enjoy!

in total, all these ribbons of flavorful goodness only took me about 25 minutes. longest thing was the rice!

next time i'll remember to take some pics before chowing down.

pizza!

i made my provencal pasta sauce do double duty last night as a topping for my pizza with the works. how can i have pizza with all of my dietary issues? easy - watch:
i started with a whole grain pizza crust made by the rustic company
sprayed on some olive oil
added some fire roasted crushed tomatoes - about 1/2 cup
layered on around 1/2 cup of the provencal sauce
spread on just a little less than the 1/2 cup of shredded rice cheese that i had left
added sliced mushrooms - lots!
some smart life (faux) pepperoni slices
the rest of the rice cheese
baked at 450, as crust package says, for a little longer than recommended, b/c the extra crispiness of the crust soaks up the yummy sauce flavors nicely

very yum with a simple salad of romaine lettuce and some cut up tofu slices, and a splash of my favorite ken's vinaigrette.

mmmm, pizza! later, i'll post my recipe for pizza that uses a crust made of no flour or wheat of any kind.

provencal pasta sauce

i had a hankering for pasta tonight, but what would accompany the long strings of whole wheat yumminess? in my fridge were the following:
2/3 eggplant
1 red pepper
2/3 zucchini

i went to my local market and picked up:
1 red onion
fresh basil
4 plum tomatoes
garlic

and the evening went a little something like this:
heat a large sautee pan sprayed with olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan
sautee 1/2 red onion (chopped)
add 1 clove of garlic (smashed & minced)
add diced red pepper - by now the onions and garlic have sweated a bit and are getting translucent
add a sprinkling of salt - i'm guessing 1 teaspoon
eggplant time! that is, time to add cubed eggplant. mix things up so that the eggplant finds its way to the bottom of the pan and close to the heat
add diced zucchini
roughly chop the tomatoes and throw them onto the now-steaming sauce

ok, here's the provencal-ization:
add a couple of generous tablespoons herbs de provence (wonder herb)
a splash - aka teaspoon - of dried oregano
and finally, the thing that gives this layered sauce its depth: cumin - just a teaspoon!

cover for about 7 minutes - this will sweat the veggies and draw out the moisture, which you then reincorporate by mixing it all together.

add some shredded/chopped fresh basil.

i added this to a cup of whole wheat spaghetti and topped it off with some shredded rice cheese.

and for dessert:
microwave 1/2 of unsweetened frozen strawberries and 2 packets of splenda for 2 minutes at 50%
to the heated fruit, add two teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
mix until you get a chocolatey, strawberry soup
i could have eaten it just like this. but i added the 1/3 container of vanilla flavored silk soy yogurt that i had left over from breakfast and mixed. this added texture to the soup and cooled it down to make it more of a summer dessert.

in sum: simply deeelicious!

what and when is "in a pinch"

my love affair with cooking is decades old. cliched notions of spices and smells invoking family memories ring true for me, due in large part to the fact that my grandmother lived with us while i was growing up. she never looked at a recipe card, rarely measured using anything other than her hand and a beat up old silver drinking cup (for rice and flour), and, like many of the tv cooks remind us to do, listened to the food to test for readiness. by the time i was cognizant of her culinary talents, she had been cooking for over fifty years, a practice that began when she was eight or nine. stopping her schooling in india at the equivalent of fourth grade, my grandmother spent her adolescence being educated in the domestic arts - cooking, cleaning, tending to the house; my personal favorite story is the one where she tracks down the sweet treats her mother has hidden on a high shelf and which she promptly unearths and consumes. when she is discovered, she blames the "accident" on an imaginary neighborhood cat. i inherited her sweet tooth (and later her diabetes), as well as her inclination to create food from whatever was around. my own daily experimentation with inventing dishes is the motivation for this blog; my grandmother, the inspiration. the title belongs to my sister, who claims that i utter the phrase "in a pinch" quite frequently. i've yet to hear myself say it, but to her credit it does capture my approach to the kitchen.

when i cook, i use what i have around me. that includes frozen veggies, soy protein products, semi-readymade foods (e.g., marinated artichokes, canned legumes), and allows me to compose meals out of the wide palette of ingredients and foodie bits. one problem is that i rarely make the same thing twice, because experimentation is just so much fun! the exception is when i cook for others. on those occasions, i use tried and true compositions - with some minor tweaks, of course. another problem is that i don't always have the same ingredients in the house all the time, which is another thing that most cookbooks encourage the reader to do. i've failed at keeping a well stocked and consistent pantry, hence, i make "in a pinch" meals that come together with the stuff i find around the house and whatever i happen to have brought home from the market.

im excited about keeping track of these journeys here and thank anyone who offers advice, feedback, or just a hello!

happy experimenting,
lmv
:)